Joel's Blog

Always a Bridesmaid - Never A Bride

06/21/2009 My workbench gets on TV

I got a call last week from the Planet Green and The Discovery Channel. They were shooting a Father's Day promotional segment with Steve Thomas of Renovation Nation and they needed a workbench. Now I have always liked Steve since his "This Old House" days so naturally we were happy to help out. I brought my smaller portable bench that I use at shows to the studio and put it together for them. I'm pretty proud of the bench, I made it when I was first starting TFWW and the entire bench was made by hand. I milled everything by hand, all the joinery was cut by hand and so on. It's a classic hand tool bench. The design is adapted from a Roy Underhill design which in tern was adapted from a historic model. Steve liked it too. It was the right size for the studio and the idea of a totally hand made bench fit in nicely with the Planet Green philosophy.

An update:
The following week Steve was on The CBS Early Show and he used my workbench again. This time you can really see the bench in action. Here is the link to the clip

Once again I sit on the sidelines while my workbench gets the spotlight.

Join the conversation

06/22/2009 David Gendron

hi Joel, do you have plans for that bench?

06/22/2009 joel https://toolsforworkingwood.com

The plans are in Underhill's "The Woodwright's Apprentice" (I think / am pretty sure) THe only changes I made was adding a regular vise (you can't see it in this picture) and I offset the hinge block so that the legs would fold flat. Also check the height - Underhill likes low benches and I raised my a few inches from his print.

07/09/2009 Swanz

Nice bench! I'm curious about the front and the clamp it uses to hold that long board.

07/09/2009 joel https://toolsforworkingwood.com

It's a regular flush mounted quick release face vise with the board clamped in the vise on one side and a small clamp holding the wood against the apron on the other side - works like a champ.

07/10/2009 Swanz

Thanks!

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